Court ruling on school finance prompts call to restore cuts, reform system

Examiner staff

Published
1:45 am CST, Tuesday, February 5, 2013

A state district court on Monday ruled in favor of Houston ISD and other school districts that the Texas school finance system is unconstitutional.

The decision rallied education advocates to apply more pressure on the Texas Legislature to restore funding cuts made in 2011 and provide regulatory reforms.

District Judge John Dietz held that the school finance system has evolved into an unconstitutional state property tax and that the system fails to provide the plaintiff districts access to funding sufficient to provide a constitutionally adequate education.

Specifically, the Court found that the current funding system does not:

• provide adequate resources to give all students a real opportunity to graduate from high school ready for college or career;

• provide equitable funding that allows all Texas school districts to meet the state’s high standards; or

• provide local school districts and communities with meaningful discretion to provide local supplementation or enrichment above state requirements.

Texas school districts filed the lawsuit after the Texas Legislature’s decision in 2011 to slash $5.4 billion from K-12 education funding. Houston schools lost more than $120 million in state funding over the past two years, resulting in teacher layoffs and larger class sizes. The cuts came at a time when Texas was implementing a tougher, new school accountability system that holds schools accountable for preparing all students to graduate prepared for college and the workplace.

HISD Board of Education President Anna Eastman said the ruling recognizes the importance of providing every teacher with the resources they need to prepare students for success.

“It is time for the Texas Legislature to restore the funding cuts and come up with a fair public school finance system that is easy to understand and gives kids’ schools the money they need to provide the education they deserve,” Eastman said. “It’s going to take courage and action on their part. We want to be part of that conversation and make sure we come up with a system that’s better than what we have now.”

More than 600 school districts involved in the litigation represent about 5 million Texas school children.

Attorneys for the Texas School Coalition, which represents 89 school districts that contribute about $1 billion annually to the state system from local taxes, suggest the legal battle is far from over.

“While we expect that the Texas Supreme Court will ultimately have its say, there is no reason why the Legislature has to wait on the appeals process before addressing the constitutional deficiencies in the system,” said Mark Trachtenberg with law firm Haynes and Boone LLP, which represents the coalition.

“Because of statutory mandates, rising academic standards and declining state funding, districts have lost meaningful discretion over their local property tax rates and have no opportunity to provide enrichment programming desired by their local communities. Judge Dietz correctly found that this situation results in a de facto state property tax, which is prohibited under the Texas Constitution,” Trachtenberg said.

Both the Texas Democratic Party and the Texas Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers called for the Legislature to restore funding cuts made in 2011 and reform the system to comply with the state Constitution.

“The inevitable appeal that the state’s lawyers will pursue in this case must not become an excuse for legislative inertia. The state needs to invest more in public education immediately, because the kids can’t wait,” said Texas AFT President Linda Bridges.

The nonprofit Texas Public Policy Foundation believes that per-pupil school spending in Texas currently meets the national average, that the system has enough dollars to meet state requirements but needs reform.

“It is time for real reform. And that’s the good news here: there’s an opportunity for the 83rd Texas Legislature to deliver exactly that,” said James Golsan, policy analyst for the TPPF’s Center for Education. “The best options for fiscal efficiency and — most important — student success are rooted in the empowerment of parents, taxpayers, and communities. If this Legislature gives Texas parents and students a flexible education system, in which competition drives excellence within our schools, we can meet that standard.”